@article{3e6033c8742a4376a5b4252f26da0cc6,
title = "Histological study of sheep skin transformation during the recreation of historical parchment manufacture",
abstract = "We report a simple histological study on skin biopsies from young domestic sheep following each step in transformation from skin to parchment production. During the recreation of historical parchment manufacture, histological analyses were conducted; before and after lime treatment, hair removal, and stretching. Sections were fixed and stained using a variety of histological stains to identify the presence of different molecular classes and the fibrous proteins, collagen and elastin. The results reveal surprisingly few histological changes in most steps in the production process. However, very visible changes in the supramolecular ordering of skin macromolecules (elastin, collagen) occur during the final stage of parchment production when stretched on the frame. Collagen fibres and hair follicles were all strongly re-oriented in the direction of strain. Surprisingly despite the thinness of the lambskin and the exhaustive treatment in lime, not all fats were saponified and even in the final product Oil Red O stained fat bodies were detectable on the hair side of the skin. We believe this study will help compensate for the lack of sources on microscopic changes in parchment during the recreation of its historical manufacture.",
keywords = "Collagen, Elastin, Histology, Lipid, Parchment, Sheep skin",
author = "Marc Fourneau and Caroline Canon and {Van Vlaender}, Daniel and Collins, {Matthew J.} and Sarah Fiddyment and Yves Poumay and Olivier Deparis",
note = "Funding Information: The authors would like to thank Nathalie Kirschvink from the Integrated research veterinary unit (URVI) from the University of Namur for providing domestic sheep skins from animals that died a natural death. Matthew Collins and Sarah Fiddyment acknowledge funding from Beasts to Craft (ERC Horizon 2020 Grant Agreement No. 787282). We thank Craig Kennedy for provision of the parchment samples from the earlier study C Ghioni, JC Hiller, CJ Kennedy, AE Aliev, M Odlyha, M Boulton, TJ Wess Journal of lipid research 46 (12), 2726-2734. Funding Information: This work was performed with the support of the Pergamenum21 project in the frame of the transdisciplinary research impulsion program of the University of Namur (NATRIP). MJC acknowledges support from the Danish National Research Foundation (178) and the ERC (Beasts to Craft; Horizon 2020 Grant Agreement No. 787282) Acknowledgements Funding Information: The authors would like to thank Nathalie Kirschvink from the Integrated research veterinary unit (URVI) from the University of Namur for providing domestic sheep skins from animals that died a natural death. Matthew Collins and Sarah Fiddyment acknowledge funding from Beasts to Craft (ERC Horizon 2020 Grant Agreement No. 787282). We thank Craig Kennedy for provision of the parchment samples from the earlier study C Ghioni, JC Hiller, CJ Kennedy, AE Aliev, M Odlyha, M Boulton, TJ Wess Journal of lipid research 46 (12), 2726-2734. Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2020, The Author(s).",
year = "2020",
month = dec,
day = "1",
doi = "10.1186/s40494-020-00421-z",
language = "English",
volume = "8",
journal = "Heritage Science",
issn = "2050-7445",
publisher = "BioMed Central Ltd",
number = "1",
}